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[image title=”front of MH” size=”full” id=”739″ align=”right” ]Morningside Hospital in the 1950s or 1960s. There were many other structures on the property, including patient housing and farm buildings.
[image title=”205 Mall” size=”full” id=”743″ align=”right” ]In 1968, Morningside Hospital was sold to the developers of the 205 Mall. This is what it looks like today.
Researchers Niesje Steinkruger and Meg Greene, both of whom are retired Superior Court judges, have made incredible progress is locating and documenting Morningside patient court records. Below are photos of some of the things they’ve found with descriptions provided by Niesje.
[image title=”Subpoena” size=”full” id=”705″ align=”left” ] This photo (L) is of a subpoena given to the Federal Marshall by the Judge. Subpoenas were issued for the alleged insane person and the witnesses. Summons were also issued for six jurors. All persons alleged to be “insane and at large” had a 6 person jury trial.
[image title=”Probate Docket Book” size=”full” id=”712″ align=”right” ]This (R) is an example of a Probate Docket book from Ketchikan. Inside are records of Estates, Guardianships, Adoptions and Sanity court cases.
[image title=”Ketchikan Docket Book” size=”full” id=”725″ align=”left” ]This photo (L) is an example of a page from a Ketchikan docket book from 1953. The amount of information varies from date to date and location to location. Some have entries with basic information only. Others have complete verbatim documents and testimony summary.
[image title=”Nome Court Vault” size=”full” id=”729″ align=”right” ]This photo (R) is of the vault in the Clerk of Court Office in Nome, Alaska. The vault was barged to Nome during the Gold Rush.
We found the Probate Docket books in this vault. The Probate Docket books have entries for the sanity proceedings from the late 1800’s to 1960.
[image title=”Inside Nome Vault” size=”full” id=”732″ align=”left” ]This (L) is the inside of the vault in Nome where historical files, journals and dockets were kept. In early days, gold was also kept here.
Eric Cordingley and David Anderson, of the Friends of Multnomah Park Cemetery, have identified the burial places of more than 100 Morningside patients. They created a Virtual Cemetery site that includes all of the patients they’ve identified, pictures of gravestones, and other information on the patients.
They are relying on two sources of information in their search. They’re using the quarterly reports submitted to the Department of the Interior that list the names of patients who died, the cause of death, and the burial location. The Oregon Death Index has also been useful in finding burial locations. The certificate below is from the Virtual Cemetery site. It notes that Rita Lane, from Nome, died of pneumonia at Morningside when she was 14 years old. The burial location, Multnomah Cemetery, is at the bottom of the right side of the death certificate.
[image title=”Death certificate” size=”full” id=”695″ align=”center” ]
[image title=”OSH Copper Urns” size=”full” id=”661″ align=”right” linkto=”viewer” ]SALEM — The intent was to reunite families with the remains of their relatives, patients who died and were cremated at the Oregon State Hospital decades ago. But the list of names compiled by the state is so riddled with errors that it may be impossible for relatives to make a match.
The Oregon State Hospital Museum Project blog posted an interesting article that asks the question, “Why Oregon?”
“The question still remains, why Oregon? The State Insane Asylum (later Western State Hospital) at Fort Steilacoom near Tacoma had been in operation since 1871 and is geographically closer to Alaska than Salem or Portland. Or perhaps even more logical would be to establish an institution in Alaska itself. Our 1916 text hints that difficulties in transportation around the Alaska Territory made the transfer to another institution a reasonable solution.
Although Portland is somewhat remote from Alaska, it is to be remembered that Alaska, with some 3000 miles of water frontage has no central point. A patient from the north would have to come to Seattle and be shipped back to the lower part of Alaska, if there was an institution in that region, and vice versa. Moreover, the climate of Alaska is none too good for an insane patient.”
To read more, go to The Oregon State Hospital Museum Project blog.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the copper canisters that hold the cremains of patients who died at the Oregon State Hospital. The names of the patients, and other information such as date of death, are now online. The webpage, Honoring the Past – List of Unclaimed Cremains[image title=”copper” size=”full” id=”617″ align=”left” linkto=”viewer” ], explains that: “The Oregon State Hospital is the custodian of the cremated remains of approximately 3,500 people who died while living at Oregon State Hospital, Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital, Mid-Columbia Hospital, Dammasch State Hospital, Oregon State Penitentiary, and Fairview Training Center between 1914 and the 1970s. These cremains were never claimed.”
The site includes information on how to claim cremains if you can prove you are a relative. The 6 Alaskans who died there between 1900 and 1903 were not on the list. Thanks to Eric Cordingly of the Friends of Multnomah Park Cemetery for sharing this link.
Happy Holidays!
2010 was an exciting year! Among the milestones this year:
The first few months of 2011 promise to be nearly as exciting as 2010. Niejse Steinkruger, Meg Greene, and Robin Renfroe are going to Juneau in January to dive into the Alaska State Archives with our Juneau-based researcher, Deborah Smith. Read More
[image title=”Photos 1923_0003″ size=”full” id=”592″ align=”right” linkto=”viewer” ]Research team member Marylou Elton lives in Washington, DC, and spends many of her Wednesday’s at the National Archives II scanning Department of the Interior (DOI) administrative records of Morningside Hospital. She recently sent an interesting set of documents relating to the 1923 DOI inspection of the hospital, including the DOI inspectors report and recommendations, Morningside owner Henry Waldo Coe’s response, a list of exhibits and photos.
A few of the more interesting things in the report:
